Core for shoe heels or the like and method of making the same



Oct. 15, 1929. J. R. GAMMETER 1,731,657

CORE FOR SHOE HEELS OR THE LIKE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Jan. 11, 1928 92 E-5' Z E jlfh Patented Oct. 15, 1929 UNITED I STATES ,PAFTENT' OFFICE JOHN :a. GAMMETEB, on, AKRON, oHIo GORE FOR SHOEI-IEELS OR THE LIKE Ann METHOD or MAKING THE SAME Application filed January 11, 1928." Serial No. 245,978.

This invention relates to reinforcements or cores adapted to be embedded in the rubber cushion bodies of shoe heels or similar articles to stiffen them in one direction while allowing them to be flexed in another or to serve as an anchorage for nails or other fastening means for securing the cushion body to the article, such as a shoe, with which it is to be associated. I

In my copending application, Serial No. 215,330, filed August 25, 1927, upon the invention of which my present invention is an improvement,'I have described a shoe heelcomprising a rubber body and a reinforcement therein consisting of a single strip of sheet metal looped back and forth in such manner as to permit passage of the bodies of the nails but not their heads between adjacent reaches of the metal. 7 I

The chief objects of my present invention are to provide an improved reinforcement having the general characteristics of that just referred to but having its reaches more firmly secured in their spaced-apart relation; and to provide an inexpensive method of producing such reinforcements.

Further objects are to provide a reinforcement having suitable form for interlocking with the rubber of the cushion body in all directions, although lying flush with one face thereof for rigidity of attachment, without expensive provision therefor; and inexpensively to provide a reinforcement comprising closely spaced reaches of thin, flat strip material set on edge withrelation to the wear surface of the shoe heel or the like in which it is embedded, advantages of such construction being that such a reinforcement may be nailed through without selective positioning of the nail although engaging the heads of the nails to serve as an anchorage therefor and that they may be so constructed as to stiffen the cushion body in one direction only.

' Of the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan View of a stam'ped'metal blank adapted to be bent to form a heel core or reinforcement in the practice of my in vention. d

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same after the bending operation, as it appears when laid upon the lower member of a heel mold adapted to mold a heel in inverted position, as in Fig. 3. I Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the mold and the heel-reinforcementtherein;

Fig. 4 isa vertical, fragmentary section of the reinforcement in the inverted position of Figs. 2 and 3.

Referring to ment, shown in its final form at 10, is formed in the preferred practice ofmyinvention by die-stamping from apiece of sheet metal a blank 11 (Fig. 1) having a suitable shape approximating that of theshoe heel in which it is to be embedded, but'of smaller extent, so that it can be completely enclosed by the rubber of the heel except at the attachment face of the latter, and the blank is formed, pref erably in the same operation in which it is stamped from the sheet of-metal, with a series of cuts having reaches 12, 12 extending from one marginal zone. 13 of the blank to the opposite marginal zone 14 thereof and having reaches 15,15 extending approximately at right angles to the reaches 12 at the ends of the latter and all in the same direction, so that the cuts define a series of reaches 16, 16 of the metal in strip form which remain integral with the margins 13, 14 of the blank but are connected therewith only by narrow webs 17, 17 of the metal, the blank constituting a shutter-like structure.

The margins 13, 14of this structure are then bent sharply at the positions of the reaches 12 of the cuts and revers ely bent at the positions of the terminals of the reaches 13 of the cuts, throughoutthe length of the blank, so that the blank takes the form which is shown in Figs. 2 to 4, with the strips or reaches 16 providing a grid or nail-receiving the drawings, the reinforce-= zone in which they stand edgewise to the sight as the resulting reinforcement 10 is viewed in plan, and with the strip 16 connected by oblique reaches 18, 18 of the margins 13,- 14 of the blank, which serve to hold the strips 16 securely in spaced relation the entire structure remaining integral.

The reinforcement 10 thus formed is then laid upon the lower member 19 of a heel mold as shown in Fig. 3 and the upper member 20 of the mold, having its cavity filled with vulcanizable rubber-heel stock 21 is so forced against the lower member as to cause theblank 10 to be embedded in the stock and the assembly is subjected to vulcanizi'n'g and pressure in the usual manner, whereby a rubber heel is formed having the reinforcement embedded therein with its elements 16 flush or substantially flush with thesurface of the heel at the attachment face of the latter but with the rubber of the cushion body forced about and interlocked with the oblique metal reaches 18, which connect the strips 16, in a manner such as to prevent separation of the cushion body and the core or reinforcement. I

The metal elements 18 in the molding operation securely hold the strips 16 in proper relation to eachother against the force of the rubber which ispressed upon them and they also assist the rubber to maintain proper relation of the strips in they finished heel against the force of nails driven through the reinforcement-to attach the heel to the shoe.

The invention provides the several advantages set out in the above statement of objects and as modifications are possible without sacrifice of all such advantages I donot wholly limit my claims to the exact'procedure or the specific structure herein described.

Iclaim: a j

1. The method of making a metal reinforcement for rubber heels or the like which comprises forminga shutter-like structure of sheet metal having a region consisting solely of adjacent strip elements connected with each other only outside of said region and so bending'the said structure as to cause the said strip elements throughout the said region to stand edgewise to the sight as the resulting structure is viewed in. plan.

2 The method of making areinforcement for rubber heels or the like which comprises so cutting and deforming a piece of slreet material as to produce a grid zone of thin, fiat strip elements substantially parallel to' each other both longitudinally and transversely throughout their extent in said zone.

3. The method of making a reinforcement for rubber heels or the like which comprisesso cutting a multiplicity of portions ofa piece of sheet metal andremoving them from the original plane thereof as to form substantially throughout a nail-receiving zone of the reinforcement'a grid adapted to permit the passage of a nail therethrough without selective positioning of the nail or rupture of the metal.

4. A reinforcement for rubber heels or the like comprising a unitary sheet of material having a grid zone of thin, flat strip elements substantially parallel to each other both longitudinally and transversely throughout their extent in said zone and connecting elements securin said strip elements together outside of the said zone.

5. A reinforcement for rubber heels or the like comprising a series of reaches of thin, flat strip material constituting a grid zone with the" said reaches disposed edgewise to the sight throughout their extent in said zone as the grid is viewed in plan and means constituting apart of the inforcement positively securing the said reaches together outside of the said zone.

6. A reinforcement for rubber heels or the like comprising a single piece of sheet metal having a multiplicity of portions: so cut and removed from the original plane of the sheet as to provide substantially throughout a fastener-receiving zone of the reinforcement a grid adapted to permit the passage of a nail therethrough without selective positioning of the nail or rupture of the metal.

7. The method of makin'ga metal reinforcement for rubber heels or the like which comprises cutting from a piece of flexible sheet metal a blank having the general form in plan of the article to be reinforced and so bending portions of the blank without substantially changing the general shape of the blank as to stiffen the blank in one direction while leaving it flexible in a direction transverse thereto. V

8. The method of making a metal reinforcement for rubber heels or the like which comprises cutting from a piece of flexible sheet metala blank having the general form in plan of the article to be reinforced and so bending portions of the blank without substantially changing the general shape of the blank as to stiffen the blank in one direction while leaving it flexible in a direction transverse-thereto and as to form it for the passage of nails therethrough.

9. A reinforcement for rubber heels or the like comprising a unitary sheet of metal hav ing' the general form in plan of the article to be reinforced and having integral portions bent out of the original plane of the sheet on substantially parallel. lines and constituting stiffening means for the sheetagainst flexure in one direction, the sheet being relatively flexible in another direction.

10. In combination with the cushion body of a rubber heel, a reinforcement therein comprising a piece of sheet metal lying generally parallel to the tread face of the heel but having portions bent out of the original plane of the sheet on substantially parallel lines and constituting stifi'ening means for the sheet as to fiexure in one direction, the sheet being relatively flexible in another di rection.

11. A combination as defined in claim 10 in which the reinforcement is formed for the passage of nails therethrough.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 6th day of January, 1928.

JOHN R. GAMMETER. 

